BAE develops cost saving energy system for military

BAE Systems has demonstrated an energy management system for off-grid military bases achieving cost savings of up to 30 per cent.

The Power Operational Concept Demonstration (PowerOCD) was completed under a £1.5m contract from the UK Ministry of Defence.

At the heart of the demonstration is the Deployed Energy Management System (DEMS), a plug-and-go solution that sits between the generators and the distribution system, intelligently managing supply and demand. The generators charge a battery system controlled by the DEMS console, which switches the generator off when the batteries are fully charged. Power on demand can be drawn from the batteries.

The system has been proven at a series of trial locations in UK, Cyprus and the British Army Training Unit in Kenya. Now it is proposed for further operational use, with the advantages that it is simple to use for deployed operators and can be controlled in theatre or remotely from MOD sites in the UK. It is also flexible enough to accommodate the needs of small and larger bases.

Although the system integrates equipment currently in use by the military it is designed to have the flexibility to accommodate commercial generators and alternative energy sources such as solar and wind.

Gary Jackson, head of technology delivery for MOD’s Defence Equipment & Services division, said the PowerOCD series of trials and demonstrations had provided hard data from a realistic, representative operational environment in Kenya. “We proved that the empirical efficiencies matched the theoretical modelling and clearly demonstrated an approach relevant to current operations and potential contingencies in the near and longer term.”